This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2000-41530, filed on Jul. 20, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display, and more particularly to a lamp apparatus that is adaptive for providing a liquid crystal display having a thin thickness.
2 . Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, an active matrix liquid crystal display (LCD) uses a thin film transistor (TFT) as a switching device to display a moving picture. Since the LCD is able to provide a product having a smaller dimension than a Brown tube, it has been widely used in various applications of personal computer, notebook computer, office automation equipment such as copy machines, etc., and portable equipment such as personal data assistants and pagers, etc.
Such a LCD requires a backlight unit because it is not a self-emitting display device. The conventional backlight unit uses a lamp apparatus as a light source.
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the conventional lamp apparatus includes a plurality of lamps 22 received within a housing 26, ground wires 21 connected, in series, to low voltage electrodes 22a of the lamps 22 by virtue of a soldering, a first plug 24a connected to the ends of the ground wires 21, high voltage wires 23 connected, in series, to high voltage electrodes 22b of the lamps 22 by virtue of a soldering, and a second plug 24b connected to the ends of the high voltage wires 23. The first and second plugs 24a and 24b are connected to a low-voltage side jack and a high-voltage side jack of a power supply or an inverter (not shown), respectively. The ground wire 21 and the high voltage wire 23 apply a low voltage and a high voltage from the plugs 24a and 24b to both electrodes 22a and 22b of the lamp 22, respectively. Then, the lamp 22 causes a discharge accompanied by a light emission by a voltage difference of both electrodes 22a and 22b. 
As shown in FIG. 3, the low voltage electrode 22a of the lamp 22 is connected to the ground wire 21 by the soldering 27. The connection between the low voltage electrode 22a of the lamp 22 and the ground wire is supported by a holder 25 engaged with the end of the housing 26.
In such a lamp apparatus, since the low voltage electrode 22a of the lamp 22 is connected to the ground wire 21 by soldering, a bubble is included in a cold solder, i.e., soldering causes a poor connection. Also, in the conventional lamp apparatus, since a length of the ground wire 21 is long, it is difficult to align the wires and to provide a slim-type design of the liquid crystal module. Furthermore, since the connectors 24a and 24b connected, in series, to the ground wire 21 and the high voltage wire 23 has the same structure, it is not easy to distinguish the connectors from each other when the connectors are inserted to a jack of the inverter.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a lamp apparatus for a liquid crystal display device that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a lamp apparatus that is adaptive for providing a thin-thickness liquid crystal display.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, a lamp apparatus for a liquid crystal display according to the present invention includes at least two lamps; a ground wire connected commonly to low voltage electrodes of the lamps; high voltage wires connected, in series, to high voltage electrodes of the lamps; a first plug for connecting at least one of the high voltage wires and the ground wire; and a second plug for connecting the other high voltage wires.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.